I once ordered a Pro-One wood case from Synthwood.
At the same time, Stephen Jones (Synthwood) expressed an interest in having me develop lit wheels for various synths. He said he would send me the Pro-One case and wheels immediately and added that my work on the wheels would be a good way that we could make some money together.
I looked forward to this both for additional income and simply to make a decent aftermarket product.
So I waited… and waited… and waited. A month or more and nothing arrived.
No wheels, no Pro-One case. My client was losing his patience also.
Finally, the Pro-One case arrived.
But it didn’t fit.
It had been made too small for the front panel.
I wrote Stephen back and received no reply.
So I wrote George Mattson, the person who does Synthwood’s wood work.
He basically said what I was experiencing was impossible, it wasn’t his fault, etc.
We didn’t talk for many months.
So I wrote Stephen again and again received no reply.
In fact, since I ordered that case and spoke to him about the wheel development years ago, he’s never replied even once since.
By this time, I gave up. I provided my client the (incorrectly fitting) wood case and told him he’d have to deal with it as Stephen wouldn’t return my emails and I couldn’t request a refund for money I didn’t pay, (my client payed for the case separately.)
However George wrote me a bit later to show off the great new lit wheels that Stephen asked him to develop.
Instead of following through and sending me the wheels, he had George develop them instead and never informed me, nor George.
George was actually writing me to show me his handy-work and had no idea Stephen had first asked me to do the same thing.
Months later, George wrote back to me again.
He said he realized that not all Pro-One panels were the same size, it was his mistake and apologized.
I thought this was very honorable and was impressed with George’s honesty.
But Stephen lied to me.
Instead of doing as he said and involving me in the development of his lit wheels, he asked George instead.
So I lost my client, I lost that particular job and I lost any money I would have made helping developing Stephen’s lit wheels.
From this, I’ve concluded that George is honest, Stephen isn’t and I will never do any business with Synthwood again.
To me, this is just plain dumb business.
One email from Stephen could have kept a good business relationship open.
I would have continued trusting and recommending Synthwood to customers.
Instead, I had to wait, write many emails, lose a job, lose a client and instead of developing cool lit wheels that could have changed colors in response to CVs, LFOs or other signals, Synthwood instead marketed a much less desirable product.
All of this because Stephen was too scared (apparently) to write me back to say he couldn’t follow through on his original promises or to take care of his incorrectly made Pro-One case.
If I need any wood work in the future, I’ll contact Larry or Wes Taggert.
But not Synthwood.
As for George, I do believe he is honest and talented, but perhaps a bit naive to believe that all Pro-Ones would be the same or that Stephen Jones would make a good business partner.
, I’m just completing installation of one of my optical “Opto-Key” contact systems in a 37 note keyboard. It was designed for the 44 note Minimoog D, but I cut one down to 37 notes.